Murudeshwar

Murudeshwar, the pilgrimage paradise and a scenic holy place, has recently shot into prominence as one of the loveliest spots in Karnataka. The tiny town of Murudeshwar, home to a huge Shiva temple, is also home to a sizable Muslim and Christian population. This is really a secular village, people of this small town lives in harmony. The place is sanctified by a piece of the Pranalinga of Mahabaleshwara and has some beautiful carvings and statues. Bounded by the shimmering sea and rolling hills, the place is a favorite picnic spot.

One can enter Murudeshwar from the Bhatkal-Honnavar National Highway through a specially erected big entrance decorated with intricate carvings. Murudeshwar symbolises the past glory of Hinduism. It is centered on the splendid Murudeshwar temple atop a hillock overlooking the Arabian Sea.

Bounded by the shimmering sea and rolling hills, Murudeshwar is the sort of place which makes you contemplate about life and what it means to you.

The sea is an intrinsic part of the temple scape at Murudeshwar. The sea surrounds the temple towering on the small hill called Kanduka Giri on three sides. A huge 15 m statue of Shiva towers over the town and has an overwhelming presence. The statue, which is only a couple of years old, is in a complex, which encompasses the 500-year-old Shiva temple.

One is greeted with the bewitching beauty of the surroundings as one reaches the top of the hillock. The vast stretches of silvery sands with the Sahyadri mountains framed into the background, the coconut trees dancing to the tunes of the billows, rose of boats dancing and drifting towards the shore, the sun looking like a ball of fire just before the sunset and then sinking into the sea - all weave a magic spell and make the viewers forget themselves.

There is also a huge fort behind the temple believed to be renovated by Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore.